Device for closing compressed or liquid gas cylinders



June 14, 1927.

1.. LE MOINE DEVICE FOR CLOSING COMPRESSED "0R LIQUID GAS CYLINDERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 8, 1923 June 14 I927.

- 1.. LEMOINE DEVICE FOR CLOSING COMPRESSED 0R LIQUID GAS CYLINDERS Filed March a. 1923 s Sheets-Sheet June 14. 1921.

LEMOINE DEVICE FOR cnosme COMPRESSED" OR'LIQUID GAS cmmmas Filed March a, 1925 a Sheets-Sheet 3 AAAA W WW Y Patented June 14,1927.

" UNITED STA ES PATENT" orrlce.

LOUIS LEMOINE, on Mars, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR 'ro socrfima ANONYME IDAPPLICA- axons nns GAZ LIQUEFIES, or rams, FRANCE, A LIMITED JOINT-STOCK com:-

PANY 0F FRANCE.

- DEVICE FOR CLOSING COMPRESSED OR LIQUID GAS CYLINDERS.

I Application :flled March 8, 1923. Serial No. 623,605, and in France April 20, 1922.

. My invention relates to devices for closing cylinders containing compressed or liquefied as. g Cylinders for compressed or liquefied gas as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings at 1, are already known. Such cylinders are closed by a stopper cap 3 screwed on their open end 2 and thus forming a joint at this end by the action of the pressure directed from the outside towards the interior of the cylinder; a washer of plastic material 4= is usually interposed between the stopper 3 and the mouth of the cylinder.

-In the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 1 the body of the cylinder is made in one piece, but it may be of advantage to make it in twoparts for two reasons. The first reason is that the open end having to be brought downto a very small diameter, in order to reduce to a practical minimum the joint there formed and the strain to be exerted on the stopper 3 in order to obtain the tightness of the joint, the work of drawing out the cylinder is long and diflicult and consequently costly. The second reason is that the open end of the cylinder, thus reduced to a very small internal diameter. is easily stopped up by foreign bodies (rust or the like) which may be'formed inside the cylinder and which it is'impossible to remove therefrom.

The well known arrangement shown in Fig. 1 may therefore be modified as shown in Fig. 2. In this modified cylinder the cylinder is formed of a body part proper 1 and an added portion 9 screwed thereon in such a way as to form a tight joint and terminating at its free end in a reduced portion, that is to say having a reduced internal diameter which is threaded externally in order to receive the cap 3. This arrangement avoids the two disadvantages hereinbefore mentioned because it dispenses with continuing the work of drawing out tothe extreme end of the body of the cylinder, and

in case of the obstruction of the passage,

' the unscrewing 'of the part 9 enables foreign matters which may be found in the body of the cylinder to be easily removed.

Both the foregoing types of cylinders however which are already known have two essential disadvantages.

Firstly, the cap 3 must be screwed on only moderately tightly where the same plastic.

washer 4 is to serve for successive recharging of the cylinder, that is to say, in the case where the discharge of' the contents is obtained not by perforation of the closing member-but by unscrewing the cap 3. The result is that the cap 3 easily becomes unscrewed by the action of vibration. This cap must also normally be unscrewed during the use of the cylinders. Consequently, as no holding arrangement exists. this cap 3 may become entirely separated from the cylinder and be lost leaving the interior of the cylinder exposed to external agencies.

In addition to this, both for the refilling and discharging the contents of the cylinder respectively from and into a closed receptacle under pressure, a tight joint must be provided between the cylinder and the said receptacle. and this joint must be arranged on the neck 5 of the cylinder; consequently. this joint has necessarily a relatively large diameter and requires in order to produce a tight joint an eflort proportio 'l to its dimensions. Further. this joint arranged at a point which is somewhat distant from the end of the cylinder which is inconven-- ient for inserting the cylinders in the charging and using apparatus and for their subsequent removal from the said apparatus more particularly for those operations which must be .done automatically. Finally, the joint must be made on a rounded surface. which is not well adapted to produce a good tight fitting connection.

This invention rclates'to an arrangement for closing compressed or liquid gas cylinders whereby the disadvantages hereinbefore stated are avoided and which may be applied equally well to any of the types of Figs. 1 and 2 are longitudinal sections through the old style cylinders above referred to.

Fig. 3 is a. longitudinal section of a one piece cylinder equipped with the new closing device,

Fig. 4- a cation of the construction shown in Fig.3,

Fig. 5 a lon 'tudinalsection of a further modificationo the foregoing cylinder,

Fig. 6 a longitudinal section of a two-piece cylinder equipped with the new closing device, I

Fig. 7 a longitudinal section of a modification thereof, and 4 Fig. 8 a longitudinal section of another modification thereof The cylinder 1 (Fig. 3) supports a socket 6 which is internally threaded and screwed on a corresponding thread on the neck of the cylinder. The screwing connection being the socket 6 thus forms.

made tight enough with the body. of the cylinder, along an inclined annulus 7, a sufiiciently tight joint with or without the interposition of a plastic packing material. The socket 6 has at its free end a reduced internal diameter which- 1s smaller than the external diameter of the cap 3 so that the latter cannot/be completely unscrewed. The pitch of the respective threads of the socket6 and the cap 3 may be in the same direction or in opposite direc f tions.

For recharging ordischarging the cylinder, the joint between the latter and the pressure receptacle is obtained around the extremity of the socket 6, or on the end plane of this socket, or by means of a stuffing x fitt' on the cylindrical part 8. In both cases thejoint is obtained on a surface of small diameter and at the end of the cylinder itself, or in proximity to this 'end.

As soon as the cylinder is charged and closed by-the cap or stopper 3, the joint at .7 betweenthe stopper 6 and the body of the cylinder is no longer ofimportance until the moment of discharging the cylinder; an imperfect tightness of this joint has no influence on the tightness of the cylinder itself. It has only the inconvenience of a slight loss of gas when filling or dischargm In the modification illustrated in Fig. 4

the joint between the socket 6 and the body 5 dispenses with the thread of the cylinder f longitudinal. section of a modifipart 9 is pressed against the cylindrical part intended for the fitting of the stopper 3. This stopper is screwed into a thread on the socket 6. In Fig. 5 this thread is a prolongation of the thread which is formed on the c linder but it maybe a thread of smaller iameter which allows of its being given a different pitch and one in an opposite direction.

Figure 6 is an arrangement of a body of a cylinder made in two parts of the type shown in Figure 2 to wit, a cylindrical body part 1 and a neck part 9 and in which the socket 6 has the same characteristics as it has in Figure 5 and additionally that of connecting together the twoparts 1 and 9 of the body of the cylinder. For this purpose the socket 6 is internally threaded at two different diameters, the larger one being formed on the body 1 of the cylinder and the smaller one serving for the screwing of the stopper 3. Between these two threads an annular abutment 12 is provided by means of which when .the socket 6.is

screwed on the body of the cylinder 1 the 1, a disk of plastic material 11 being generally interposed; a tight connection of the two parts 1 and 9 isthus obtained, the whole of which forms the body ofthe cylinder.

The annular joint 12 between the socket 6 and the member 9 corresponds to the joint 12, Figure 4; it is suflicient if it be almost tight and it may be made withor without the interposition ofplastic packing material.

Figure 7 is a modification of the arrangement shown in Figure 6 in which the stopper 3 is screwed onto the part 9, instead of being screwed into the socket 6.

In the arrangements shown in Figures 3,

4, 5, 6 and 7 the joint at the mouth of the body of the cylinder is insured by means of a small cylindrical block 4 of more or less plastic material held in the stopper 3; this small block is generally of ebonite.

Figure, 8 is a modification of the arrangenient illustrated in Figure 6 in which the part 9 inserted in the body of the cylinder,

instead of being made of metal, is made of ebonite or like plastic material, while the stopper 3 is entirely of metal, that is to say, being the reverse of the previous arrangements, it has no cylinder 4 of ebonite or like material. This modification enables one part to be dispensed with as well as the 1 1. In a device for closing cylinders for compressed or liquefied gas, the combination are ,- with the cylinder and the closing cap therefor, of an internally screw-threaded socket,

55 adapted to be screwed on an outer thread provided at the end of the cylinder thus constituting a joint with said cylinder, said 4 1'}- socket terminating in an annular portion c0- axial with the socket and adapted to provide the required joint for the filling and dischar ing of the cylinder, said socket having uced inner diameter towards its free end, said closing cap being screwed onto a threading provided within said socket between the end of the cylinder and the free end of said socket and adapted to close the mouth of the cylinder, the reduced inner part, a shoulder on said diameter of said socket forming an abutment for said closing cap, preventing itfrom being completely removed.

2. The combination as specified in' claim 1, in which said cylinder comprises two parts, viz., a cylindrical body part and a neck part provided with a bore, the said two parts being united in an air tight manner by the said socket being screwed onto said body socket engaging said neck with an outer thread engaging a corresponding inner thread in said socket.

In testimony whereof I aflix m signature.

LOUIS L MOIN-E.

part, said closing cap being formed 

